Door brace structure



June 23, 1970 P. E. PEMBERTON ET AL 3,515,474

DQOR BRACE STRUCTURE Filed April 10, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet l I II IINVENTORS June 23, 1970 PEMBERTON ET AL 3,516,474

DOOR BRACE STRUCTURE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 10, 1968 R O T N E V mUnited States Patent O 3,516,474 DOOR BRACE STRUCTURE Paul E. Pemberton,Irving, and Sheldon D. Loose,

Carrollton, Tex., assignors to Overhead Door Corporation, Dallas, Tex.,a corporation of Indiana Filed Apr. 10, 1968, Ser. No. 720,288 Int. Cl.E05d /20, 15/58 US. Cl. 160-209 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSUREBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates in general to anupwardly acting door assembly having a plurality of horizontally hingeddoor sections and, more particularly, to a brace device or structure forresisting forces applied to the external side of the door.

The performance and construction of upwardly acting doors havinghorizontally hinged sections have been well known and highly developedover a considerable period of time. However, these doors are sometimesexposed to excessive forces in certain areas of the country, and theproblems resulting therefrom have defied satisfactory solutions. Morespecifically, unusually high winds frequently develop in the seaboardstates, and upwardly acting door structures, which are easily able towithstand normal stresses, are often damaged by such winds.

Upwardly acting doors are normally of lightweight construction, tofacilitate their operation and because heavy materials are usuallyunnecessary. For example, the door sections may be made of lightweightplywood, fiberglass, aluminum or glass supported in metal frames andmounted on a pair of relatively lightweight tracks by means of a limitednumber of small rollers. Although such lightweight construction ishighly advantageous during normal use and operation of the door, even inadverse weather conditions, such doors can be damaged by extreme winds,such as those developed during hurricanes. Furthermore, where such doorsare horizontally hinged and relatively wide, they are especiallysusceptible to the destructive force of high winds.

Previously, in an attempt to overcome these problems, each section wasreinforced by horizontal brace bars, which are often applied just beforethe storm occurs. Although this has reduced somewhat the amount of winddamage to such doors, it has not proven to be satisfactory since atrained person must be present to install the bars, and suchinstallation requires a considerable period of time. If the beams are ofsuflicient size to provide the required strength and are permanentlyinstalled, then they add appreciably to the weight and cost of the doorand its support, and the door is more diflicult to open. Moreover, suchbracing does not avoid the force exerted indirectly by the wind upon thetracks.

Accordingly, an object of this invention is the provision of an improvedbrace device, especially for a horizontally hinged and upwardly actingdoor, wherein suflicient reinforcement is provided to minimize damage ofthe type presently experienced from forces such as hurricane 3,516,474Patented June 23, 1970 Ice winds, applied to the exterior of the door,and yet does not increase the weight of the door and does not obstructthe door opening when the door is in the open position.

A further object of this invention is the provision of a brace device,as aforesaid, wherein the forces exerted on the door are transferreddirectly to the structure of the building above and below the door.

Another object of this invention is the provision of a brace device, asaforesaid, capable of adaptation to door sections of various lengths andwidths, and wherein any number of brace devices may be employed withoutappreciably adding to the weight of the door.

Other objects and purposes of the invention will become apparent topersons familiar with door constructions upon reading the followingdescriptive material and examining the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a broken view of the interior side of an upwardly acting doorassembly having the brace device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line II-II in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a broken fragment of an upwardly acting door structureequipment with a modified brace device.

For convenience in description, the terms upper, lower, front, rear andwords of similar import will have reference to the door constructionembodying the invention as appearing in FIG. 2, the rear or interiorside of the door being rightwardly therein.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The objects and purposes of the invention,including those set forth above, have been met by providing an upwardlyacting door construction having a plurality of similar, horizontallyhinged door sections, each of which has at least one rearwardlyextending, horizontal brace member mounted on the interior side thereof.An upper anchor is secured to the inner side of the interior side of thewall above the door opening and a lower anchor is mounted in the floorof the building below the door opening. A flexible brace element isconnected at one end to the upper anchor and is releasably engageable atthe other end to the lower anchor. The flexible brace element extendsvertically across the interior or rear edges of the horizontal bracemembers. The flexible brace element may be released from the loweranchor, when not in use, and secured to a second upper anchor forstorage.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The upwardly acting door structure 10, oneembodiment of which is shown in FIG. 1, is comprised of a plurality ofsimilar, horizontally hinged sections 11, 11A, 11B and 11C.Corresponding parts of the sections 11A, 11B and 11C will be identifiedby the same numerals as their counterparts in section 11 withappropriate suffixes A, B or C. Section 11, for example, has arectangular frame 12 constructed of wood. The frame 12 supports aplurality of panels 13 of lightweight plywood or glass. Although section11 is shown as being constructed of wood, alternatively it could beconstructed of aluminum or steel-supporting fiberglass panels or glasswindow panes.

The section 11 (FIG. 1) is hingedly connected to the adjoining section11A by a hinge assembly 16, which may be of any conventional type. Thesections 11, 11A, 11B and 11C are mounted on and between tracks 17 and18 by roller assemblies 19, 21 and 22 for movement between asubstantially vertical or closed position and a substantially horizontalor open position.

A horizontal brace member 23 is secured to the interior side of, andextends lengthwise of, the section 11, preferably from one end to theother thereof. The brace member 23 has a channel-shaped portion with apair of side- 3 wardly projecting, coplanar flanges which are secured tothe frame 12 by screws or bolts 24. The member 23 may be constructed oflight gauge aluminum, steel or fiberglass. Each of the remainingsections 11A, 11B and 110 has similar, corresponding brace members 23A,23B and 23C.

An upper anchor 27, which may be an eyebolt, is attached to the lintelor header 28 above the door opening 14 in the building by threadedengagement with the receptacle 29. A lower anchor 31, which may besimilar to the anchor 27, is secured in the receptacle 32 in the floor33 at the bottom of the door opening 14.

A flexible brace element 36 has a hook 37 at its upper end forengagement with the eyebolt 27 and a second hook 38 at its lower end forengagement with the eyebolt 31. The flexible element 36 may beconstructed of wire cable or chain and should be of such length that itengages the horizontal brace members, such as the members 23 and 23C(FIG. 2), when the hook 38 engages the eye-bolt 31. Yet the element 36must be loose enough to permit engagement and disengagement of the hook38 with eyebolt 31.

As shown in FIG. 2, the hooks 37 and 38 of cable 36 preferably engagethe respective eyebolts 27 and 31 at points forwardly of the interior orrearward edges of the brace members 23, 23A, 23B and 23C, therebyminimizing rearward movement of the door 11.

An additional eyebolt 34 may be secured to the internal surface of theheader 28 and spaced horizontally from eyebolt 27 about the samedistance as the eyebolt 31. Thus, the hook 38 can be connected toeyebolt 34 to support the element 36 in storage position 36A when it isnot in use.

Although FIG. 1 shows only one flexible brace element 36, it may bedesirable, particularly for doors of greater width, to provide more thanone brace element, thereby distributing the effects of wind force moreuniformly on the door.

An alternate construction is illustrated in FIG. 3, wherein the upwardlyacting door 40 includes a plurality of horizontally hinged sections,such as 41 and 41A, each of which is provided with a plurality of short,horizontally aligned brace members, such as 42 and 42A. A flexible braceelement 43, which may be identical in construction with the braceelement 36 is anchored at one end on the header 44 and releasablyconnected at the other end to the floor 46. It has been found that ahorizontal brace member 42 as short as 4 inches functions satisfactorilywhen used together with the vertical flexible bracing element 43. Thisarrangement is especially advantageous where several elements 43 areused.

OPERATION Although the operation of the structure embodying theinvention will be apparent to skilled persons from the foregoingdescription, a summary thereof will now be set forth for convenience.

The door 10, when in normal operation, is opened by lifting sameupwardly and thereby causing the rollers in roller assemblies 19, 21 and22 to move along the tracks 17 and 18 in a conventional manner. Theflexible brace element 36 is normally stored in an inoperative position,such as horizontally at 36A in FIG. 1.

The door is closed when a hurricane warning is sounded. The hook 38 isremoved from eyebolt 34 and the flexible brace element 36 is pulleddownwardly against the horizontal brace members 23 and 23C until thehook 38 can be connected to eyebolt 31.

The force of the wind against the door is thus transferred directlythrough the cable 36 to the header 28 and the floor 33 of the building,rather than being borne by the roller assemblies 19, 21 and 22 and thetracks 17 and 18. Also each of the sections 11, 11A, 11B and 11C is heldin a braced condition which avoids damage to the door.

If the building is to be unoccupied for an extended period of time, itmay be desirable to place the brace element 36 in the vertical,operative position with hook 38 being secured in eyebolt 31. The braceelement 36 would therefore be in the position of use in case of anunexpected hurricane wind and also the brace element 36 would alsominimize an unauthorized opening of the door. The operation of thealernate door construction 40 and the invention is substantiallyidentical to the above-described operation of the door 10.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows:

We claim:

1. A brace device adapted to hold a door with respect to the structuredefining the door opening, comprising:

plural brace members secured to one side of said door and havingsurfaces spaced from said door and from each other, said brace membersbeing substantially aligned in a direction extending between oppositeedges of said door;

first anchor means secured to said structure near one edge of said dooropening and being substantially in alignment with said brace memberswhen said door is in a position closing said opening;

second anchor means secured to said structure near the opposite edge ofsaid door opening and being substantially in said alignment with saidbrace members; and

an elongated brace element connected to one of said anchor means andadapted for releasable connection to the other anchor means when saidelement is at least closely adjacent said edges of said brace members,whereby forces urging said door toward said brace element are absorbedby said structure.

2. A brace device according to claim 1, wherein said first anchor meansis located near to, and spaced from the ends of, the upper edge of thedoor opening on the interior surface of said structure;

wherein said second anchor means is located near the lower edge of thedoor opening;

wherein said brace element is a flexible cable movably connected to saidfirst anchor means; and

wherein said brace members are on the interior side of the door.

3. A brace device according to claim 2, and adapted for an upwardlyacting door having a plurality of horizontally hinged sections movablebetween said closing position and a substantially horizontal positionnear the upper end of the door opening;

wherein at least one brace member is secured to each door section andextends lengthwise thereof spaced from the horizontal edges thereof,said brace members projecting from the interior side of the door.

4. A brace device according to claim 2, and adapted for an upwardlyacting door having a plurality of horizontally hinged sections movablebetween said closing position and a substantially horizontal positionnear the upper end of the door opening;

wherein each door section has a plurality of horizontally spaced bracemembers disposed along the interior side thereof and projectingtherefrom, each brace member on each section being substantiallyvertically aligned with brace members on other sections of said door;and

wherein there are plural first and second anchor means and plural braceelements engageable with said brace members.

5. The brace device as defined in claim 4, wherein each of said bracemembers extends horizontally along one of said sections and is at least4 inches in length.

6. A brace device according to claim 2, including third anchor meansmounted on said structure and spaced from said first anchor means forengagement by the lower end of said brace element, said third anchormeans being above said door opening and arranged for storing said braceelement in a position spaced from said door opening.

7. The brace device as defined in claim 2, wherein said first and secondanchor means are spaced frontwardly of said surfaces on said bracemembers.

8. A door reinforcing assembly comprising:

a door, said door being track mounted for vertical operation;

a door frame having at least an upper cross member located adjacent theupper edge of said door when said door is in a closed position, and abase member located adjacent the lower edge of said door when said dooris in a closed position;

an upper catch anchor mounted on said upper cross member and adapted toreceive a portion of an upper catch;

a lower catch anchor mounted on said base member and adapted to receivea portion of a lower catch;

tensioning means including elongated flexible element means engaged withone side of said door and extending between points near the upper andlower edges thereof;

an upper catch mounted on the upper end of said tensioning means andhaving a portion thereof adapted to be received in said upper catchanchor; and

a lower catch mounted on the lower end of said tensioning means andhaving a portion thereof adapted to be received in locking relationshipin said lower catch anchor.

9. A door reinforcing assembly as set forth in claim 8, in which saidtensioning means includes a flexible cable and a plurality of bracketsmounted on said door for spacedly supporting said cable from said doorso that forces applied to said door are distributed to said door frame.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,517,768 8/1950 Coulson '189 X2,966,212 12/1960 Fimbel 160-189 X 3,104,669 9/1963 Wolf 160-201 X 3,424,223 1/ 1969 Rosenblatt 160-209 MARVIN A. CHAMPION, Primary ExaminerE. J. MCCARTHY, Assistant Examiner

